The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha Gonzalez Laya, announced yesterday in Qatar, the last stage of a tour of the Persian Gulf with a strong economic character, the creation of a bilateral structured mechanism to facilitate Qatari investments in the projects of the Government’s Recovery Plan.
“After a very good discussion with the Emir and with the Foreign Minister, we have agreed to put in place a structured mechanism to seek greater Qatari investment in Spanish Recovery and Transformation Plan projects”, the minister said during the joint press conference with her Qatari counterpart, also Deputy Prime Minister Mohammed Al Thani.
“There is great interest in Qatar towards Spain, a country Qatar knows well because it is already present with numerous investments”, she continued. The Qatari government “understands that there is now a great opportunity to co-invest with Spain in the transformation of our country in the future and, therefore, I think it is a good opportunity to capitalize on our good relationship and seek financing, investment and co-investment in the recovery and transformation of Spain”, Gonzalez Laya added.
For his part, the Qatari Foreign Minister declared that Qatari investments in Spain are “important and significant” and was “very enthusiastic about the new plan for the recovery of the Spanish economy after the COVID”, which is why, he continued, it is necessary to set up a working team in charge of “analyzing the real possibilities of investment” based on “concrete projects”.
Shortly before the meeting with the Foreign Minister, González Laya was received by the Emir of the State of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, with whom she was able to “confirm the momentum of bilateral relations in the economic, trade and investment fields”, as reported by the Ministry through Twitter.
The minister also met with the president of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Development, Sheikha Mozah, with whom she discussed the promotion of technological capacity and innovation “as a driver of community development”, and met with the CEO of Qatar Investment Authority (QIA, the country’s sovereign wealth fund), Mansoor Bin Ebrahim Al Mahmoud. She also held a meeting with Qatari business, educational and cultural women at the residence of the Spanish Embassy, met with representatives of Spanish companies and met with the co-chairman of the newly formed Qatar-Spain Business Committee, Sheikh Faisan Bin Qassim Al-Thani.
The most important objective of Gonzalez Laya’s current tour of the Persian Gulf, according to diplomatic sources, is to attract the interest of the region’s sovereign wealth funds to finance the technological, industrial and green economy projects envisaged by the Recovery Plan launched by the Government on the basis of the European Recovery Fund. Qatari investments in Spain currently exceed 21 billion euros and the Qatari ambassador to Spain, Abdullah bin Ibrahim al Hamar, recently declared that the State of Qatar is already the second largest shareholder in the Spanish stock market.
González Laya’s presence in Doha included a visit to the SEK International-Spanish School, where she declared that “Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world and Spain has a great Arab heritage, these are the two great pillars on which we want to build”, and another visit to the construction site of the Ras Abu Aboud stadium, which will be inaugurated for the 2022 FIFA World Cup and which will be “the first dismountable and reusable stadium in the world and a commitment to sustainable architecture”. She also signed a cultural cooperation agreement and a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the field of Youth and Sports with the Minister of Culture and Sports, Salah bin Ghanem Al Ali.
